Yeah, I know the Baron Davis trade was Chris Mullin's best pickup... but it was also his easiest. If you're like me, you had lost hope that anybody would ever take Mike Dunleavy Jr.'s contract. Not only did the Warriors end up with the best players in the trade; they also ended up with better contracts as a result of it. Harrington and Jackson are both overpaid, but (unlike Dunleavy and Murphy) they produce! What's more; they're both great fits to Don Nelson's offensive sceheme.

Prior to the season, I wrote a piece called "Why the Warriors Don't Need Al Harrington". Basically, I was writing from a Monty-ball point of view. Harrington isn't a great rebounder, he's another woeful free-throw shooter, and the guy doesn't play defense. But from a Nelly-ball perspective? The situation is almost completely different.

Harrington can score in every different way; he can slash, shoot, post up, or run the floor. He shares Mike Dunleavy's streakiness... but Harrington's version looks like it's on steriods. Mike Dunleavy heats up twice a month to produce a 20-point, 8-rebound, 5-assist game. Al Harrington heats up 6 or 7 times a month... and usually comes out with a 30-point, 15-rebound game every now and then.

With Jason Richardson on the shelf most of the year, Golden State was left without a go-to scorer. Big Al effectively (and immediately) solves that problem.

On top of that, the Warriors aquire a couple dead-eye shooters in exchange for (what will soon become) bench players for Indiana. Stephen Jackson (while a bit derranged) and Sarunas Jasikevicius might not give you everything... but, when left opened, they'll both knock down the outside jumper. Jackson has been a bit off this season so far (shooting >30%), but I expect that the career-35%-shooter will pick it back up with the new Nelly-ball style. Jasikevicius shoots 36% on his career (37% this season). Indiana was a halfcourt offense; so not many of those 3's were uncontested ones. I'm expecting both players' numbers to improve.

Josh Powell (in all likeliness) will be waived.

In one fell swoop, Chris Mullin loses Murphy and Dunleavy's contracts, while improving the overall talent of the team. Kudos to the VP.

Just trading away Murphleavy makes it a good trade. I still have my doubts about Al and am concerned about adding a headcase like Jackson. Also, I think Ike's gonna explode in Indy. I'm sure of that.

Still, it was worth it. There's no way we could pass up a chance to trade those two.

Allow me to repeat myself:

TURDLEAVY AND MURPH ARE NO LONGER WARRIORS

It's funny now that I think of it. Indy traded Artest for Stojakovic. With the exception they received from New Orleans in the Peja sign and trade, they signed Al Harrington... and now they trade him for Dun.

In essence, they traded Artest for... Dun. Amazing. I'm never gonna look at Donnie Walsh the same way.

I am feeling a little strange............ not quite sure what to think............ but know one thing =

CAN'T TAKE THE PISS OUT OF DUNNYBOY ANYMORE

This trade was better than it was worse. Dun and Murphy gone for slightly more than decent players in Harrington, Jackson and even Jasky is great but the man Diogu is gone and he is stuck in an even bigger rut! All the best to Diogu, all three actually and onto our team.

Mullin has saved himself from future criticism by getting rid of the MISTAKES he made (contractwise ofcourse) and getting smaller contracts and better talent that should fit better. The playoffs now is a MUST!

Hoonyo wrote:Um... what? Did you just happen to forget we have Baron Davis and Monta Ellis in the backcourt?

Nope. Baron has always wanted to be a pass-first PG on the Warriors... and Monta's been a streaky second-year player. Richardson was much more solid in the scoring category last year than Monta has ever been this year.

I still believe Baron is the go-to guy for offense. Whenever he takes those fadeaway jumpers in crunch time, you say to yourself "NOOOOO THAT'S A HORRIBLE SHOT" until it goes in and you're like "WOOOOOOOOO NICE SHOT BD!"

If we can keep everyone in my sig (sorry, Matt Barnes, I think you're a one-season fluke), than the Warriors are a constant playoff threat. No doubt.

Another thing to note: every single player in the sig is a product of the Chris Mullin Era. Richardson was resigned for a huge bargain. Baron, Big Al, SJax, and Sarunas were all traded for by Mullin. Chef, Monta, and Biedrins were all drafted by him. And Kelenna was signed by him. Chris Mullin has built this team from the ground up... and it suddenly looks good enough to contend with most of the Western Conference.

All those Mullin-haters just lost 90% of their ammunition. In fact, I can't imagine (other than Foyle still being here) one thing that anyone can complain about with Mullin now.

mullin has done a great job as far as trades. getting baron for virtually nothing, now getting rid of bench players for starters. cant knock that. i think he realizes his mistakes now, and im glad nelson is here to help him realize that. i think the warriors are going to explode, especially when we get completely healthy!

"Losing is inevitably close to winning," Guber said. "They're inches apart. Drama. If you have drama, you've got a ticket to sell." "They're not real fans," Lacob said. "They don't have season tickets."

ChronicallyInclined wrote:mullin has done a great job as far as trades. getting baron for virtually nothing, now getting rid of bench players for starters. cant knock that. i think he realizes his mistakes now, and im glad nelson is here to help him realize that. i think the warriors are going to explode, especially when we get completely healthy!